May 5, 2008 08:00 AM
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San Francisco, 12:23 AM
Wed Feb 10
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The Star Trek franchise has always been about "big picture" stories, but the next Trek series should take the opposite approach, narrow the scope and focus on a few well-developed characters - primarily Wesley Crusher. Yes, the much maligned ensign should be brought back as the captain of a Starfleet science vessel that warps around the Alpha Quadrant solving mysteries for the Federation. Think of it as CSI . . . in space! Here's how it would work.
Sure, it's basically an "X...in space!" idea. And it could be difficult writing forensic mysteries with tricorders and ship's computers involved. And I know some of you would gnaw your own arms off to escape watching any TNG episode featuring Wesley Crusher. Still, the idea of Captain Crusher and his Oberth class starship investigating murders, thefts, temporal discrepancies and bizarre engineering puzzles is very appealing.
Why Wes Crusher? The link to the past is an obvious benefit, and leaves plenty of room for cameos by old friends. But more importantly, today's Wil Wheaton is not the Ensign Crusher you once knew and hated. If you've followed his post-Trek career at all, you know that he has a certain everygeek quality and self-effacing awareness of his somewhat annoying role in sci-fi history that is pretty charming. You can check out his blog for proof (he's apparently an io9 reader!). There's a little bit of Wil in each and every one of us - he's the nerd who got to actually be on Star Trek. In my mind (this idea literally came to me in a fever dream), Wil could convey a mature version of Wesley's wide-eyed enthusiasm, a captain who loves solving problems with science and never loses touch with that "Wow, this stuff is really cool" attitude.
Oh yeah, about that whole resigning from Starfleet and tripping around the universe with that space-hippie, The Traveler? One word: retcon. Photo by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com.
Send an email to Ed Grabianowski, the author of this post, at edgrab@io9.com.
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